New Enterprise dedication plaque

[JarodRussell]

It's the Enterprise; that's what that whole scene with Jim Kirk stopping in the dark on his motorcycle was about. That's the moment he fell in love with the Enterprise. The literal light in his eyes is the reflection of the ship.

We don't see direct evidence that the ship in the dark would be the Enterprise. She's merely a ship of that design.

We do see that the ship later seen in daylight is the Enterprise. But we could in theory say that after the fateful night, Kirk rode his bike all the way to San Francisco (he's the type to do that sort of riding), looked around to see where Starfleet might be, spotted the local shipyards (which had something like six of these babies under construction, including the Enterprise), drove there, and boarded the shuttle for the ride to the campus.

Timo Saloniemi

In the establishing shot of the bar, we see the Enterprise being built in background. And that's where he drives to.

 

[Timo]

It does look cheap.

Then again, the TOS ship may have looked cheap for its times. It doesn't look like that today: that sort of craftmanship with wood and working buttons and levers and whatnot is more like "rare and expensive" if anything.

But the "dedication plaque" here is a crappy plastic toy that doesn't feel the slightest bit military or spatial or even particularly futuristic.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[ST-One]

It does look cheap.

Then again, the TOS ship may have looked cheap for its times. It doesn't look like that today: that sort of craftmanship with wood and working buttons and levers and whatnot is more like "rare and expensive" if anything.

But the "dedication plaque" here is a crappy plastic toy that doesn't feel the slightest bit military or spatial or even particularly futuristic.

Timo Saloniemi

Good thing then that it could never be really seen on screen...

 

[Ward Fowler]

^ What does that have to do with anything? You do realize this whole thread was started as our first good look at the plaque, right?

 

[ST-One]

^ What does that have to do with anything? You do realize this whole thread was started as our first good look at the plaque, right?

Yeah... that thing was never the focus of any scene or even a single shot in the movie (nor was it, probably, intended to be).
And in the context of that 'flashy and bright' future that background set piece/prop looks decent enough.

That's why this thing can look a little 'cheap'.
They spent their money elsewhere.

 

[Franklin]

^ What does that have to do with anything? You do realize this whole thread was started as our first good look at the plaque, right?

Yeah... that thing was never the focus of any scene or even a single shot in the movie (nor was it, probably, intended to be).
And in the context of that 'flashy and bright' future that background set piece/prop looks decent enough.

That's why this thing can look a little 'cheap'.
They spent their money elsewhere.

At least it didn't read, "Objects in mirror are closer than they seem," or any of the other funny or frivolous things they apparently wrote on some background signs that were never meant to be in focus in TWOK.

 

[Timo]

In the establishing shot of the bar, we see the Enterprise being built in background. And that's where he drives to.

How can we tell that the ship being built next to the Iowa bar is the Enterprise? We don't see any lettering in the night shots, only the shape of the ship.

The daylight ship (which is shown to be the Enterprise) could be in a different part of the continent for the sake of this argument. Starfleet would simply be building a number of those giants, including the Enterprise in San Francisco, and some other ship in Riverside.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ward Fowler]

^ My favorite were the No Smoking signs. How times change.

 

[Dayton Ward]

The daylight ship (which is shown to be the Enterprise) could be in a different part of the continent for the sake of this argument. Starfleet would simply be building a number of those giants, including the Enterprise in San Francisco, and some other ship in Riverside.

So, Pike, and Uhura, and everybody else from the bar the previous night ALSO went someplace else other than the site across the field, where Pike said a shuttle would be departing in the morning? Why?

Have you met my friend Occam? He has this cool razor...

ETA: Topic - Oh, and the plaque looks like shit.

 

[Birdog]

If the Enterprise was built in San Francisco we would have seen water and hills when the shuttle lifted. Since we did not than Occam's razor says she was built near the bar in Iowa.

 

[cooleddie74]

^ My favorite were the No Smoking signs. How times change.

No Smoking signs were also aboard the refitted Enterprise in TWOK and TSFS, near or inside the alcove of the ship's transporter pad.

 

[Classic Fan]

Seeing the movie three times in the theatre, it never occured to me to look for the plaque.

Its cool that they did their homework etc, but given the the alternate universe Entperise is built in Iowa, and the plaque still says San Fransisco but the explanation makes sense. Its not where it was built, its where it was commissioned from. Makes sense.

Still dont like the look of it though, its a little too bling IMHO. The design is ok but not the finnishing surface.

Really though, on the bottom, just aft of the deflector is says Made In Taiwan.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

It's the Enterprise. That is the entire point of the sequence of Kirk seeing the ship for the first time.

This nitpicking desire to rationalize every teensy detail of Trek productions so that it makes total continuity sense is a ridiculous waste of time when it's in support of what we're shown - it's doubly nonsensical when applied to attempts to undercut either what we're shown or the stated intent of the creators.

 

[number6]

This nitpicking desire to rationalize every teensy detail of Trek productions so that it makes total continuity sense is a ridiculous waste of time when it's in support of what we're shown - it's doubly nonsensical when applied to attempts to undercut either what we're shown or the stated intent of the creators.

^This!!

 

[Cicero]

So...there's a USS Starship out there?

Perhaps "Starship-type" would've been better... but you'd have to go all the way back to TOS to address what they were thinking of. Originally a starship was meant to be a type of big, fast, powerful, long-duration spacecraft set apart from all others - a type to which the Enterprise belonged. I don't think they were thinking of Navy-style class designations when they came up with it, as later came into use.

The "Starship-class" designation is somewhat in keeping with US practice at least as recently as WWII. (I've seen the plaque of CVN-65, but I can't recall what it looked like.)

As can be seen in the USS Maury's dedication plaque, the navy inscribed commissioning plaques as follows:

U.S.S. MAURY
DESTROYER
NAMED FOR
COMMANDER MICHAEL F. MAURY, U.S.N.
BUILT AT SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.
AUTHORIZED MARCH 27, 1934
KEEL LAID MARCH 24, 1936
LAUNCHED FEBRUARY 14, 1938
FIRST COMMISSIONED AUGUST 5, 1938

The USS Maury (DD-401) was a Gridley-class destroyer.
​

​

 

[Tom Riley]

In the establishing shot of the bar, we see the Enterprise being built in background. And that's where he drives to.

How can we tell that the ship being built next to the Iowa bar is the Enterprise? We don't see any lettering in the night shots, only the shape of the ship.

The daylight ship (which is shown to be the Enterprise) could be in a different part of the continent for the sake of this argument. Starfleet would simply be building a number of those giants, including the Enterprise in San Francisco, and some other ship in Riverside.

Timo Saloniemi

Except Pike said that the shuttle for new recruits would be leaving from Rivirside Ship Yards... It is established in dialog that the shuttle is leaving from Riverside, and that's where we see the 1701 on the ship being built.

 

[thesovereignman]

I agree with what people have said about the Riverside/San Francisco thing. There are other yards on other planets, such as the utopia planitia fleet yards on mars. The san francisco fleet yards are not on earth, it's in orbit. Their offices though are probably in san francisco.

It's likely that any starship built on earth would be launched under their authority.

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/San_Francisco_Fleet_Yards

 

[cooleddie74]

I agree with what people have said about the Riverside/San Francisco thing. There are other yards on other planets, such as the utopia planitia fleet yards on mars. The san francisco fleet yards are not on earth, it's in orbit. Their offices though are probably in san francisco.

It's likely that any starship built on earth would be launched under their authority.

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/San_Francisco_Fleet_Yards

This is what I more or less have always believed. Good call.